Rick Wagoner
Rick Wagoner
George Richard "Rick" Wagoner, Jr.is an American businessman and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors. Wagoner resigned as Chairman and CEO at General Motors on March 29, 2009, at the request of the White House. The latter part of Wagoner's tenure as CEO of General Motors found him under heavy criticism as the market valuation of GM went down by more than 90% and the company lost more than $82 billion USD. This led to his being...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth9 February 1953
CountryUnited States of America
exactly people piece run sacrifice trying versus work
Everybody's got a piece of it. What we're trying to do is look at each piece and say, 'Where are we really uncompetitive versus the people we run against?'... If we're out of line, that's what we need to work on. So, it may not be exactly the same sacrifice everywhere, but I think just about everybody's got a piece of it.
banks burden far greater jobs legacy list near nowhere priority rates top using wage work
If I look at our priority list on the things we need to do to get cost-competitive, wage rates are nowhere near the top for us. We have a far greater burden in legacy costs, in flexibility of using our work force, in jobs banks than we do in wage rates.
above america attention business direction except extreme gm moving north progress work
All of our business units except GM North America are on or above track, and that has the extreme attention of us all. Progress is moving in the right direction ... but we still have more work to do.
brands car decent job models number products reduced segment showing side strategy work
If you look from 1992 to 1997, we've really reduced the number of car models from more than 100 to about 81. Our strategy is to have the right number of products. Segment the brands better. There's a lot of work being done on the distribution side of the business. And the data's showing that our new products are doing a very decent job in the market.
addition addressing biggest burden challenges close due equitable fair gary government high ideal lack legacy ongoing requires union united united-states work
One of our biggest challenges is our lack of cost-competitiveness in the United States, which is due to our legacy costs, especially the ever-increasing burden of high health-care expenses, ... Addressing this challenge in a fair and equitable way requires close work with our union partners, in addition to our ongoing work with government and health-care providers. Gary is the ideal person to do this.
engagement good improving level local people quality situation success team understand unions worked
A lot of times, people will get down on the situation with the unions and with the UAW. But this wouldn't have worked without good engagement at the local level with the UAW. They understand that improving quality and productivity is important for their long-term success as well. It's been a real team sport.
days fat good improving meet mind ounce pricing regular shooting targets trying work year
In '02 we had another good year in improving productivity in salaried work force. What we're trying to do is make this a regular mind set around here, ... You can't have an ounce of fat these days and meet the pricing and the investments and the profitability targets we're shooting for.
exactly last sure
That's about what it was in 2004. We're not exactly sure about 2005, but we don't think it will be any different than last year, or what it has been in 2002, 2003 and 2004,
industry mix products reflects reliance sales shifting
The industry sales mix is shifting away from the larger, higher-profit vehicles, even pickups, ... reflects too much reliance on those products for profitability.
basics gradual growth
You've got to have a consistent, gradual growth strategy, and I think some basics are going to be required,
compelling consumers given lower prices reason
The lower prices have given consumers a compelling reason to try our new vehicles, and it's working.
progress sure
I'm not sure I'm going to make a lot of progress by scorekeeping everybody's sacrifice.
pass toyota
I think we'll probably pass Toyota in the U.S. on the workers-per-vehicle metric.
ceo course washington
On Friday I was in Washington for a meeting with Administration officials. In the course of that meeting, they requested that I 'step aside' as CEO of GM, and so I have.